The Bohemian Fraternal Twins

I know there has been a lot of build up in revealing these two finished quilts to you - and thank you to all of you who have had to listen to all my moans and groans during this creative process! I am grateful to have received so much help and inspiration from all of my blog and flickr pals. They've been pretty much finished for awhile now but I needed some decent weather to take some photos to show you.

I'm still not happy with the pictures I took of the Drunken Bohemian, but here you go. It is definitely a wild and crazy quilt, but I think it is so much prettier and the colors are not as aggressive in real life. After all the hair pulling and headaches this one caused (see this post), I am thrilled with the end result.

My original plan for the quilting was an all-over stippling with spirals in all the full circles. Well, let's just say my free motion skills are not quite up to par yet to make perfect swirls. After the whole thing was done I ended up ripping out all the spirals (I'm really spending a lot of time with that seam ripper lately!) and decided to try my first hand quilting. I love the look of the stippling with the thicker texture of the hand quilted circles!

I sort of cheated for this post, as the hand quilting is going a little slowly, and I still need to finish a few of the outer circles. I bound the quilt with my favorite print of the Bohemian collection, chocolate brown with colorful paisleys.

The New Wave Bohemian came into being when I fell in love with Elizabeth's New Wave pattern, and decided to try for a double sided quilt. As it ended up, my measurements were off and backing the drunkard's path top with it would've resulted in either the front or the back being cut too short. So, two quilts were born.

This quilt has been gifted to our dear friends whose wedding we attended in Mexico last month. I was sad to see it go but I think they really love it so that makes me happy. To ensure that I would be able to part with it, I embroidered their name and wedding date and place on the back.

The sashing and backing are Kona cream which coordinates with the lighter prints. I did a simple line quilting to keep this one soft and cozy for the newly weds.

Here is the back of the Drunken Bohemian - just big leftover squares. I wasn't sure about this at first but now I love it.

And here are the twins in there last photo before being separated!

It feels good to have these all done. Now time to move on to the million other projects I have going!

Ugh. Basting Day.

Not my favorite part of the process. I actually sort of dread the quilt sandwich. The Bohemian Twins are my 8th and 9th quilts, and while I've been somewhat successful not completely bunching the back, it is still a struggle with lots of cursing and I think I did something to my back and shoulder by bending down doing all that bloody pining.

Does it ever get easier????

I was searching online for some pep-talks and tips that maybe I hadn't stumbled across before, and ran across this quote by the fabulous Rita (redpepperquilts) - "There is no joy in basting a quilt."

Thanks for making me feel a bit better with that gem, Rita! If an uber-talented professional like you still has troubles with this task, than I guess I don't feel like a total moron.

Now onto the quilting!

I took the evening off quilting last night to watch the series finale of Lost last night. I'm so sad it's over! Mark and I had some of his yet-to-be-released new Syrah, Lost Soul to mark the occasion. Maybe his best yet! No, the name of the wine has nothing to do with the show, it's just a play on words referring to Mark losing the bottom of his foot in a fork lift accident a few years ago. Eeek. 

And my short ribs turned out pretty darn well also. This recipe is extremely easy and tasty with leftovers for days.

Well, back to quilting. I am in a little bit over my head with some grand idea I had to quilt the circles with in my Drunken Bohemian. But practice makes perfect I suppose. Please wish me luck!

And thank you all so much for visiting my quilt festival quilt and all the lovely comments you left! I am seriously reconsidering tearing out all the quilting now. I think you're right - just a memento from my quilting beginning.

Tuesday morning pick-me-up (and the Scrap Bag winner!)

Nothing too exciting to report in my world this Tuesday. Just a few new pretty fat quarters (from the Flora & Fauna and Hunky Dory collections - I see more of both of these in my future), a stitchy pattern book to give me some inspiration for this month's Bee-autiful Bee blocks and a new pattern. 

Has anyone used this boxer pattern yet? Mark has been begging me to sew him some boxers so I just picked this one up and I'm hoping it works well. He has requested Liberty tana lawn as his material of choice after browsing through my stash. That or perhaps some of my beloved Heather Ross goldfish. I guess the man has taste! I think I'll make some up in something less rare and precious first in case they don't fit to his liking.

Time to announce the recipient of the Bohemian scrap pack - it's Karen (badlandquilts)! (Does anyone know how to paste that random integer number thing to their blog??) The scraps grew quite a bit after cutting the pieces out for the back and there are a few nice, big swatches so I hope there's enough there for you to go crazy with!

And this is a little view of what I'm working on for the other side of the Bohemian quilt. I'm sure most of you have already seen this awesome free pattern from Oh!Fransson and I'll show you more as soon as I'm done.

It's been a busy week around here, just returning from a trip from Eastern Washington for Mark's grandfather's funeral (he was 88 and passed away very peacefully). Lucy did really well on her first road trip (thank you new Ipad and Yo Gabba Gabba!) but the fabric hunt proved disappointing. We hit three different shops and no treasures were found:( So much for my fantasy of finding some bolts of FMF hiding in some out of the way quilt shop! Just lots of batiks, ugly calicos and civil war prints!

I'm off to pack up now for a trip out of town again. Mark is whisking me off for a fun-filled birthday weekend in Portland and the Willamette Valley wine country! I'm so excited! Lucy is staying with her grandmas and we are going to hit up some fabric stores on the I-5 corridor and Portland, drink lots of Oregon Pinot Noir and eat at some of my favorite restaurants in the country, including Le Pigeon for my birthday night! We'll be back Saturday to open our tasting room so I'll give you a full report of my fabric hunting when I return!

The (drunken) Bohemian quilt top

Yee haw! I finished the Bohemian quilt top today! Doesn't it look like a bunch of yummy Skittles candy here?

The sun visited us this afternoon so I got a chance to have an assistant hold it up for some sunshine love...

I really don't think I have ever been so close to hating a thing and then loving it in such a short time. But I really DO love it now. Even Mark has come around to liking it (although he is super glad it is off the "design wall" aka dining room wall now).

I really have a lot of this fabric left. And I am still really wanting to go with the Plan B quilt I was mulling over when I hated how the Drunkard's Path was shaping up. And let's face it, I really don't need two Bohemian quilts. So, it looks like this quilt is going to be double-sided. I'll show you what I'm up to just as soon as I get a little further.

Yes it's bright, and yes it may even be a bit obnoxious, but I'm smitten. And I think it looks a lot better in person. Thank you so much to all of you who offered your compliments and encouragement to keep me going on this. It really was almost completely frogged!

And for all of you out there who have been wanting to try your hand at curves, but are a bit intimidated, take it from the very non-expert who is me: it's super easy.

Just a few things to know:

1. Go slowly. Really slowly. This requires patience.

2. Do not consume any wine before embarking on this task. Coffee may be the preferred beverage of choice.

3. Just three pins worked best for me. One down far enough from the edge you'll begin sewing on to allow room for your foot, one at the very bottom edge and one smack in the middle. Line the two points up as seen below so the needle points to the points of the fabric. Does that make sense?

4. Use the needle down position frequently to check your work and move the excess fabric behind you. DO NOT PULL as the bias cut fabric will stretch and distort easily.

5. The first few ones may not turn out perfectly, but I assure you a little practice makes perfect. If I can do it, so can you. And may I just say, investing in a brand new seam ripper is one of life's small luxuries. I had no idea how dull my old one was and this new one sure make's ripping out mistakes a lot less painful.

Sewing curves is actually fun once you get the hang of it. I hope those tips might inspire some of you to give it a go!

So because I have a lot of this fabric left over and really don't need these scraps, would anyone fancy a big zip-lock of Bohemian scraps? There are a few bigger ones, but mostly pretty small but would make a nice string pillow top. Just leave me a comment here and I'll pick someone on Monday to send it off to. The only thing I ask is, please only leave me your comment for it if you really do think you can use them. I know I won't so I would love for them to find someone who can.

We are off for the weekend to Eastern Washington so I'm hoping to hit up a couple of small-town quilt shops to find some hidden out of print gems. Wish me luck, and you all have a great weekend!

Bohemian Madness Giveaway!

I am finally getting ready to cut into my hard fought stash of one of my most favorite line of fabrics ever: Anna Maria Horner's long out of print Bohemian. I now have every print in the line (with the exception of one, which I think will soon be on it's way to me from another Bohemian fanatic). Thank you Miss Sarah!

Yes, I know I've shown you these before but the last photos I took were really awful and I wanted to capture these before the slicing commences! Not that these pics are great by any means, but I am working really hard on taking better images. Mark got us a really nice Nikon when Lucy was born, which helps, but I really struggle with photography. Maybe add those lessons to the long list of knitting, crocheting, yoga, sushi making.....the list goes on and on.

OK, back to business. Here's a close up of this yummy goodness:

Cathedral circles, vines, paisleys oh my! Just looking at these brings me to my happy place. 

Do you love these too? Would you cry rivers of joy if you could get your hands on these? It seems like Bohemian madness has hit the fabric loving community and these are all to hard to source, so I want to share! I will be giving away a fat quarter stack of each of the prints below!

 I have a pretty good idea of the quilt I would like these to become (I'm thinking something hexy or circular), but I'd love to hear all your ideas too! So in order to enter the running for a fat quarter of each of these 15 prints, please leave me a comment on the type of quilt you'd like to see this collection made into. If you become a new follower, you get a second chance to enter, and if you are already one you get a third (Please remember to leave a comment for each entry you are eligible for).

I will close the comments for the giveaway on Friday, April 2nd at 5 PM Western time. Good luck and Happy Sunday!!

Sunday Stash #???

It has been so long since I "Sunday Stashed", I have no idea what number post I'm on anymore. Oh well.

You might be wondering what this totally awesome stack of fabrics you have never seen before are. Well, I'm sure if you are bothering to read this you probably already do :).

This is one of my favorite fabric collections ever, Bohemian, by Anna Maria Horner (and you all know by now how much I love her!) These fabrics remind me of me back in college - I think that is why I am so taken with them. It has been OOP for who knows how long and I have been piecing the collection together through swaps and late night internet searching for the last year. I am now only missing a few prints. It is so cool to see the first of some of the prints we will come to love, like the dots from Chocolate Lollipop and the Filigree and Cathedral Circles from Good Folks.

I have yet to use any of these in a quilt. Now that my Flea Market Fancy is quilted and being bound, I am looking forward to my next big project. Dragging these out of the stash has me inspired! I am thinking of tackling something circular?

PS - If you are jonesing for some of these fabrics I may be willing to put together some fat quarter stacks of what I have enough of after I cut into them - just let me know.

And to continue with the AMH love, I am once again guilty of violating my Fabric Diet. I went to a great little shop in Ballard today and just HAD to pick up some of the Folksy flannels! I think the voile will be a quilt for me someday and the flannel a blankie for Lucia. It is so soft. I also picked up this tote pattern, which I have plans for in the new Echino line (oops, more fabric to buy!)

Well, I am off to finish binding my FMF quilt. Pictures soon - and hopefully better ones than these if I could just find the blasted charging cord to our new camera!